Lenovo tops Indian tablet market with 94pc growth

While the Indian tablet PC market recorded a four percent decline (year-on-year) in the third quarter this year, Lenovo captured 20.3 percent share to lead the segment, witnessing 94 percent growth over the previous quarter, market research firm CMR said on Monday.

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Acer grabbed the second spot with 16 percent market share in terms of unit shipments.

"Over a period of time, tablet PCs are finding improved adoption in corporate as well as government segment. Education was the key segment for B2B sales and the key driving force behind the growth in 3Q 2017," Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst, CMR, said in a statement.

Lenovo's growth was attributed to its plan of distribution of its tablets towards "NAMO E-Tab Tablet Sahay Yojana" in August.

"Tablet PCs in consumer space are sidelined by phablets (Mobiles with 5.5-inch and above screen size) due to lack of product differentiation and compelling use cases," Kumar added.

In terms of unit shipments, 4G, 3G and Wi-Fi-based tabs witnessed a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth of 53 percent, 44 percent and 22 percent respectively in the third quarter, while 2G tablets witnessed a decline of 15 percent in the same period.

In terms of operating system (OS), Android continued to be the top operating system choice with 92 percent market share due to the increased availability of affordable Android-based tablets in the market.

The Android market grew 43 percent from the last quarter while iOS grew only five percent and its market share remained steady at eight percent.

The tablet market in the segment of Rs 5,000-10,000 witnessed a huge growth of 160 percent. Tabs in the price category of less than Rs 5,000 witnessed sharp sequential decline of 27 percent in the third quarter of 2017.

"With the cost of 4G data going down, the demands for 4G devices will significantly increase in the coming quarters. This will increase affordability of 4G tablets. Hence the demand for low-cost tablets is likely to grow significantly," said Menka Kumari, Analyst at CMR.